#;; the tattoos she receives in asshai are very much inspired by the tradition of Sak Yant and the beauty and reverence 🥺

[kaerinio]

@messianique approached her grace: I feel like you've went into this before BUT: would Dany get tattoos? And if so, what of? (Modern au specifically but also tattoos exist in canon universe too, sjskaksk)

dany would totally get tattoos!

in modern, she has quite a few! the first, most noticeable one is a tattoo of a three-headed dragon wrapping around the middle of her forearm and wrist, with the three heads at the top of her right hand. in verses/aus where rhaenys and aegon survive, she got this as a matching tattoo with them! there's a little tattoo of a comet on her right side/ribs in red ink. on her right thigh, she has a tattoo of hands holding a fire. below it, above her right knee, she has the words "catch the fire" as a reference to a sonia sanchez poem in this font (but a bit more bolded). there's a little horseshoe tattoo, which she shares with jhogo, aggo, rakharo, irri, jhiqui, and doreah; it's on her right ankle, and they all got it late one rowdy night. above her right elbow, she has a little book tattoo that matches one missandei has! wrapping around her upper left arm, she has a tattoo of a lemon tree branch. on her right shoulder blade, she has a small harp as an homage to rhaegar. she also has a second homage to rhaegar, which is a little cd behind her left ear (it's a cd she found with his belongings🥺). on her left shoulder blade, she has a small crown with flowers as an homage to rhaella. there's a roman numeral for three on her right bikini line in this style. she's always contemplating more, for she loves the artistry that goes into tattooing. these are also very physical reminders of ownership over herself.

in canon, i'm very much inclined toward dany getting tattoos! whenever we see tattoos being mentioned in asoi.af, there's direct ties to slavery. the ruling classes and oppressors of those in bondage find tattoos to be markers of inferiority, as chains printed upon the skin, as marks of filth. for daenerys to have tattoos, it's revolutionary. it shows that she rejects such notions and that she finds beauty in the nature of tattoos. additionally, as the mother, tattoos create kinship ties to some of her children who received tattoos while in bondage and as consequences of their bondage.

her first tattoo is delivered upon her ascension of the mother of mountains as the stallion who mounts the world. at its peak, the crones of vaes dothrak instruct her to lie upon her back, and as many as can fit around her from her united khalasar stand, watching as they tattoo an ornamental design over her heart. it's representative of the stallion's heart within! the tattoo is delivered with a bone needle, and the ink is made from charred horse bone and water from the womb of the world.

i like to imagine the second tattoo being a bond tattoo of types between herself, jhogo, aggo, and rakharo, binding them to her as blood of her blood. this tattoo matches the style of the one over her heart, but it is a tattoo flowing along her back from shoulder-to-shoulder, symbolizing the trust she has for them, for they are her watchers, warriors, shadows, and so much more. this tattoo's ink is made in a similar way as the first, but the ink does hold blood from the four of them, linking them all together and making them truly blood of her blood.

i like to imagine the third tattoo being inked into her skin in asshai, following the revelation of her identity as azor ahai reborn/the prince that was promised! the ink is developed by crushing up materials burned by her three dragons, a bit of their blood, a bit of her own blood mixed into it, crushed bloodstone, along with clean water (because fire and blood). the needle is actually forged of dragon bone, and the process is very much associated with ritual: prayers are said, spells are murmured, incense are burned while fired burn high and wild. these tattoos begin at the junction of her neck and shoulders, marking the tops of her shoulders and her shoulders themselves before connecting and extending down the backs of her arms; they stop at where her wrists join to her hands. there's also text on her back beneath the binding tattoo, going all the way to her lower back. the tattoo itself is a series of valyrian glyphs (here's a reference), marking her as the dawn in the darkness, as the salvation of the world, as the flame which cuts against the cold and smothers it. these words are interwoven with key narrative references to the original azor ahai, as well as symbols of protection and valor and wisdom, and spells themselves. i imagine they're intricate (and dense, like this and this). the entirety of this tattoo is a deep red, symbolizing blood (which, the sorcerers who give her these tattoos believe will imbue the protection and strength symbols, as well as the spells, with power).

there will certainly be more (somehow, somewhere . . . smth smth about the salvation of the world coming from her womb . . . thinking about more valyrian script in the shape of dragon horns on her sides leading to her womb perhaps 👀), which i will add later on, but as of right now, this is what's buzzing around in my brain!!